Re: 940XL features leaked
Overall, the specs sound good--and what I would expect. I hope the rumors of decontenting the regular "940" below the XL are not true. Obviously the screen will be smaller, as well as the battery, but I'd hope they'd keep the same capabilities in two sizes. I'll probably get the XL anyway, as I use my phone rather than a laptop or tablet when I am on the go, but I'd like that option for others.
If they stick with 32GB storage, they had better have a micro SD card slot. As those things have gotten so cheap, even at 128GB, I don't see why not simply hardwire one into the onboard storage and be done with it. That is one way to one-up the competition. All flagship Microsoft Lumia/Surface phones come standard with 128GB built in, no extra charge.
The camera is another area where Lumia phones have traditionally lead the pack. No one can yet challenge the 1020. 20MP will probably be fine (hopefully not 15MP+5MP images for every shot), and the Carl Zeiss optics will likely be excellent. Still, Microsoft could have looked at dropping the 1020 cam, intact, into this phone--or a special variant of it. I know several people with 1020s, who got them simply for the camera, and who still use the phones everyday. I also hope the triple flash is better than the double-LED unit on my 925. The light distribution is terrible, as too much is focused on the center and it rapidly fades out from there. My friend's single-LED Galaxy S2 easily puts it to shame. Why no Xenon flash?
I know some don't like the trend to larger screens, but I think it is inevitable, and functional. The sizes chosen for the 940 and XL seem ideal. I don't agree with the QHD display res though. I think that will just eat battery life and tax the processor in order to drive more pixels. I doubt that anyone would be able to see a difference compared to 1080p at that size. It's just good bragging rights. I really don't get the demand for IPS LCD displays. Some of the best screens out there now are from Samsung (S6, Note) and they are S-AMOLED. I have AMOLED on my 925, been using it for 2 years and have no issues with screen burn in, and sunlight readability is good (the biggest knock against it is the terrible WP brightness control that everyone hates). AMOLED has better, darker blacks, more vibrant colors, and is thinner (if it bends, the support needs to be thicker, not the screen). Glance screen is also tailor made for AMOLED, as it only turns on individual pixels, saving battery life. IPS needs to power up the whole backlight for Glance.
Having the latest-greatest SoC and more RAM is good, but so long as we can waive goodbye to the ever-present "Resuming..." messages, and the camera launches within 1 second instead of 10, I think most people will be happy. WP has always run faster and more efficiently on the same hardware, so it will likely leave little performance on the table. Perhaps an updated model could come out down the road with the 820 SoC, a-la the "S" model iPhones. Ultimately, if it runs fast and is thin, people will be impressed.
I'm very excited about Continuum, and hope that there will be more opportunities to use it on the phone. A built-in N-trig pen would be great. I currently don't use a password on my phone, as I find unlocking it every time to be tedious (I'll just lock it remotely, if I lose it). This could make the iris scanner a convenient solution for me if it doesn't introduce a significant delay. And USB type-C: time to get all new chargers! (At least we won't have to play the "flip it this way or that way" game anymore.) I definitely want wireless charging too. Very useful in the car for NAV so that you don't have to put the phone in the cradle AND plug it in (also, much neater without the extra cables, if you wire it up right). GM cars are starting to build in wireless charging for phones if you put them in the console too.